Kids Cool Experiment, Kids Science Do It Yourself Lava Lamp

It's Do it yourself Saturday in Expat Kids in Eindhoven and today I bring you an activity that the kids will love. How about spending some fun time with the little ones doing science.

First I want to invite you to recreate a space at home, which will become a laboratory, it can be the living room, dining room, garden, bedroom or any place you decide.

Secondly, you can use lab coats and of course the transparent
science safety goggles, this will make the experience unforgettable for your children.

Now that you have prepared yourself let's go through the step by step instructions on how to make a Lava lamp.

Don't worry, we won't use real lava!!!

For this activity you will need the following materials
Water
Oil
Glass bottle
Vegetable coloring
Optional: Here you decide whether to use baking soda or effervescent tablets. 
Vinegar if using baking soda.

First: Add the oil, fill ¾ of the bottle with vegetable oil.

Second: Put the water in the bottle, leave some space on the surface, and put about 10 drops of food coloring.

Third: Add an effervescent tablet to the water.

Wow!!! this is really fun!

To create a more exciting and bubbly lava lamp, break the tablet into pieces and add them. Any "effervescent" tablet will do.
To give your lamp a greater effect you can put a reflector under the lamp or the light from your mobile phone. This will illuminate the bubbles for maximum effect.

If you have decided to do this experiment but instead of using the effervescent tablet you have baking soda, read on and I will explain how to do it.

First: Mix 3 or 4 tablespoons of vinegar in a bowl with a few drops of baking soda

Second: Add a few drops of food coloring to the vinegar mixture. In our transparent bottle we add 2 or 3 tablespoons of baking soda.

Third: Fill the bottle with vegetable oil. We add little by little our mixture of vinegar and coloring.

Now let's enjoy.

Scientific Explanation:
In science we talk about a phenomenon called "intermolecular polarity" this refers to water molecules being attracted to other water molecules, similar to magnets attracting each other. Oil molecules are attracted to other oil molecules. But the structures of water and oil molecules do not allow them to bind to each other. We observed this when mixing the oil and water, the oil floated on the water, because it is lighter or denser than water.

The other thing we can observe in this experiment is the creation of carbon dioxide. When you put the effervescent tablet in and it sank to the bottom. This gas known as carbon dioxide is lighter than water so it floats to the top. The gas bubbles attract some of the coloured water and carry it to the surface. When the gas leaves the coloured water, the water becomes heavy again and sinks. This happens again and again until the tablet is completely dissolved.

Did you like our activity today? Next Saturday I'll be back with a new activity
See you next week with a new activity 🙂 .

And remember never forget have courage and always be kind. 

With Love,